Baseball

Texas Tech Looks to Defend Big 12 Title

The Texas Tech baseball program has achieved much success over the last three seasons. It's won conference championships in the form of the 1995 Southwest Conference regular season title and last year, won the inaugural 1997 Big 12 Conference regular season title. It's hosted two consecutive NCAA regionals. It's had numerous players earn All-America honors and enter the Major Baseball League draft. It's made three straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament. And Texas Tech's home attendance continues to rise as one of the nation's top collegiate baseball attractions.

There's only one achievement separating Texas Tech from the elite college baseball superpowers: a trip to Omaha, Neb. and the College World Series.

Only eight teams earn the right to step on the Rosenblatt Stadium infield to compete for the national title. Nevertheless, that's what the 1998 Red Raiders are gunning for.

"If we stay healthy and don't lose players, I'm not going to put limits on this team," Hays said. "This year is just like last year's team in that nothing will surprise me. You don't know where they might be able to go, but they've got a chance to be pretty good. If they stay healthy, it's kind of up to them in what they can accomplish.

"Our goals are the same- we want to go as far as this team is capable of going. Of course, our goals are to always win conference, get in the regional and get past that. This team is accepting the same goals as we had last year."

Texas Tech (46-14/23-7 Big 12) will enter Big 12 Conference play as marked men as the Raiders won the inaugural 1997 Big 12 Conference regular season championship. Repeating as champions won't be easy against the likes of Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State in the same conference. It will be even tougher because Raiders will have to face that challenge without departed All America players- first baseman Joe Dillon and lefthanded pitcher Jason Gooding along with All-Conference selection/outfielder Brandon Toro board.

Filling Dillon's shoes will be no small task as the senior who was drafted by the Kansas City Royals last year, hit .393, drove in 89 RBI and set school records for home runs (33) and slugging percentage (.939). The Red Raiders will need to find a third starter to make up for the loss of Gooding. Gooding also drafted by Kansas City, had an incredible season as he dominated opposing batters all season and registered an 11-0 record, 3.49 ERA and 137 strikeouts in 116.0 innings. Toro was also a key player as he hit .376, 10 home runs and contributed 51 RBI as an outfielder.

"We've got big shoes to fill with Dillon, Toro and Gooding not back, but we still have a good returning bunch," Hays said. "I don't think we can fill Joe Dillon's shoes. And of course, Jason Gooding was undefeated- those pitchers are hard to come by, but I don't think we've got a guy up there in the middle having an awesome year like Dillon had last year. Although, at this time last year, I was saying the same thing. Dillon just evolved into that go-to person and had an awesome year."

Even without Tech's two All America players, Hays believes his Red Raiders have the talent to be a successful team. How the team comes together will be another story.

"We've got some talented players, but where they'll blend together for our offense, we don't know," Hays said. " We've got some talented pitchers, but how they'll blend together as a pitching staff, we don't know. Our achillies last year was defense and I think this year, we'll be a little bit better."

"We'll be better defensively and I think we'll also be better in the outfield. Whether we can measure up again on the mound, that's going to be a big question and whether we can measure up offensively to where we've been the last few years, that's another big question."

Measuring up to the two previous Texas Tech teams will be no small task. Over the last three years, Texas Tech has accumulated a .772 winning percentage and 146-43 record. The Red Raiders have averaged 48.7 wins per year and have won two conference championships, hosted two consecutive NCAA regionals and appeared in three consecutive NCAA regionals.

"To get where we want to be and where we have been the last few years, you've got to pitch well, play good defense and have a good offense," Hays said. "That's what everybody tries to do and I think this team's got a chance to do that. We need Ward and Wright to pick up where they left off last year and we need Ralston and Stewart to be where they were last year in the pen and if they do that, we'll need the four new pitchers to step up and contribute. We need to pitch near the level we've been pitching for that to happen and hopefully it will."

Position-by-Position AnaylsisCATCHER

Texas Tech returns consensus 1997 Freshman All America and the Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year in sophomore Josh Bard. Bard, a 1998 All-America candidate, will be counted on to provide leadership in his second year at Tech.

Bard's rookie campaign included a .359 batting average along with 13 home runs and 69 RBI in his first year of college baseball. He capped off his spectacular season by playing this summer with the USA Baseball National Team that traveled overseas to compete for the Intercontinental Cup. Bard finished the summer hitting .305 and had three game-winning RBI.

Bard will receive assistance from junior Brandon Buckley. Buckley made his mark last season with a strong campaign. The junior college transfer from Chabot J.C. in California, batted .418 along with 41 hits and 26 RBI in 22 starts and 28 appearances last season.

"We're fortunate to have two real good, experienced catchers and it's important to have that," Hays said. "We had that last year and one of them got hurt and we only had one, so I'm not sure if two's enough."

Backing up both Bard and Buckley will be junior Brent Huddleston who is coming off a redshirt season.

FIRST BASE

First base is a wide open position wide as the Red Raiders must find a replacement to fill the void left by consensus All-America and 1997 senior Joe Dillon.

Texas Tech has added several players to accomplish that task. Freshman Scooter Martines, who hails from Honolulu, Hawaii and was drafted in the 31st round by the Detroit Tigers in the 1997 draft, is the early frontrunner for the starting position. Catcher/first baseman Brandon Buckley could also see action at first along with sophomore Coastal Carolina transfer Mark Austry, who batted .333 for the NCAA Division I school a year ago.

"We've got two or three guys we can put over there," Hays said. "Brandon Buckley can play over there some, Scooter Martines is a guy we recruited to play at first and of course, Mark Austry. That gives us three guys over there to try and plug in."

SECOND BASE

Consensus All America and senior Keith Ginter blossomed into one of the nation's top leadoff hitters and second basemen last year after transferring to Tech from Cypress Junior College. Ginter took the Big 12 by storm last year as the 5-9 177-pounder batted.426, hit 17 home runs, drove in 77 RBI, scored 93 runs and stole 29 bases. He also added a .529 on-base percentage and .743 slugging percentage as the Raiders' leadoff hitter. His outstanding season helped him earn four All-America first team selections, consensus All-Big 12 and Dallas Morning News Big 12 Player of the Year honors.

"Keith had an outstanding year last year," Hays said. "Hopefully, he'll be able to do it again."

Ginter has been slowed in the fall with an elbow injury. Should Ginter be injured or unable to play with his injury, a trio of other players will challenge for the starting job including junior college transfers Kevin Jordan (Blinn J.C.) and Peter Nelson (Marin, Calif.) along with UCLA transplant Brennan Burns.

SHORTSTOP

Tech lost 1997 starter Jess Olivares, but the Raiders should be strong at shortstop this season as junior Jason Huth, who started 14 games at that position returns. Huth batted .271, stole 14 bases and hit seven triples and five home runs in 58 starts.

The Red Raiders also added a junior college transfer in Junior Rodriguez. Rodriguez, who played middle infield at the same junior college as Ginter, Cypress J.C., has been drafted three times in his career and may be ready to step in immediately and challenge for the position.

THIRD BASE

Both corner positions- third base and first base are wide open positions for Texas Tech. Tech returns solid veterans, along with some new additions at the hot corner.

Senior Jose Alvarez is the top returnee with the most starts (23) at third base. Alvarez came through with some big games last season and finished with a .242 batting average with 22 RBI and four home runs on the campaign. Junior Jason Huth could also see action at third base as he has in the past. True freshman David Tuley (Spring, Texas) may also figure into the picture.

THE OUTFIELD

Texas Tech will have some new and familiar faces in the outfield as Hays will blend experience with youth. Departed is Brandon Toro (.376, 10 HR, 51 RBI) and returning to the lineup for his second season at Tech is senior Jason Landreth. Landreth, a 1997 Big 12 All-Tournament team selection, hit .379, drove in 66 RBI , stole 29 bases and hit nine home runs. He also managed to hit 29 doubles to rank third nationally in that category.

Sophomore Joe Smith, who hit .327 with nine RBI last season, will also challenge for a starting position along with Kevin Jordan and Jason Huth.

"For us to be better in the outfield, Ruiz and Durham are two keys because of their speed," Hays said. "Both are centerfielders and they're competing for the starting job there and one of them could end up in right field fairly easily."

THE PITCHING STAFF

Texas Tech returns two starters from last season in All Big 12 selections Monty Ward and Shane Wright. Ward averaged 12.2 strikeouts per nine innings last year and compiled a 9-4 record with a 4.07 ERA in 15 games started. Ward, who ranked seventh in the nation in strikeouts, returns to the Raiders after a successful summer pitching for the USA Baseball National team. Wright arrives after walking only 10 batters in 90 innings last year (one/game). He registered a 3.90 ERA and 10-2 record in 12 games started as the No. 3 pitcher last year and will be counted on even more to carry the load.

Junior southpaw Zach Stewart (1-2, 4.72 ERA) and junior closer Brad Ralston, who finished last season with a team-best 3.65 ERA along with seven saves, both return to the bull pen. Ralston is recovering from off-season knee surgery. Tech received some bad news in the fall when the coaches found that junior Chad Reynolds would be sidelined for the season with a shoulder injury.

"We don't have that many pitchers back, so they're all going to have to pitch," Hays said. "That was a big disapointment to lose Chad Reynolds. Wright and Ward are back as starters and Ralston and Stewart are back in the bullpen. Plus, we've added four new guys, so basically it's those eight people on the mound. We don't have anything set in stone yet. They're a pretty good eight but we sure don't need any injuries."

Four transfer pitchers will also need to perform right away. Juniors Cade Allison (Odessa J.C.), Eric Cooper (Chabot J.C., Calif.) and Jesse Cornejo (Seward County J.C., Kansas) along with sophomore Lubbock Christian transplant Steve Watkins will be expected to make a significant impact early on.

WHAT THE RED RAIDERS LOSE IN 1998Pitching

55% (33 of 60) of the starts
50% (23 of 46) of the wins
58% (303.6 of 524.2) of the innings

Hitting

45% (339 of 761) of hits
53% (57 of 108) of home runs
49% (291 of 584) of RBI